senior program summer site : conversations : first session



	josef from new york (7/8) Josef is entering the eleventh grade and is in his second year at the Senior Program. He has a passion for psychology and volleyball and is happy to work on both at Explo. What is your first course and what have you been doing in it? My first course is sports medicine and we have been learning about how muscles work, how joints work, about nutrition, and how we can train more effectively. I’m really interested in that because I’m an athlete. What is your favorite part about sports medicine? I want to learn to be able to make my own training program. I like to play volleyball and I want to be able to train myself to be a much better volleyball player without having to pay for a personal trainer. What about your second course? My second class is abnormal psychology. I’m really interested in psychology and I really like that. I took a psychology class last year at Explo, and I like taking psych classes here because I don’t get a chance to do that at my school. There isn’t much of a psychology department, and I’m really interested in psychology so it’s really good to take classes here. What trips did you go on this past weekend? I did a volleyball clinic on Saturday and a paintball trip on Sunday. Both were really fun. The paintball I had a lot of fun with, just because I like it a lot. I’ve been paintballing once, and this time was better because it was with a lot of friends and a lot Explo people. The place we went to, the people there were really nice. We played a lot of games, and for the most part we were pretty even. But I did win a few games, and those were really fun. I really liked the games were there were four people on either side; it’s a lot more fun and a lot more intense. What about the volleyball clinic? It was mostly working on skills. For some reason I was getting my topspin serves much better this time then I normally do. I’m usually middle but everyone plays in the back. I need to work on my back skills, receiving serves, spikes, and attacking. What mini-course are you taking this week? My mini-course is “Journey Through the Human Brain,” which I like because I do like psychology. I just find neurology and the nervous system interesting. Pretty soon I’m going to start taking the "Psychology of Happiness," and I think you are seeing a trend here, but I’m really excited for that because it’s something that is interesting to me. What is your favorite main event so far? I have a feeling my favorite main event is the one that is going to be tonight because last year the hypnotist was really good. So far I liked the Guitar Hero tournament, even though I got eliminated in the first round. I still thought it was a good main event. I also got to try DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) for the first time. I liked carnival night a lot, too. I did the joust and obstacle course. I liked that it was on the quad, because you can mix hanging out and being social with actually doing the main event. Have you been encouraged to trying something new at Explo? Well, I tried DDR for the first time. I did an activity, which was really fun, on dancing; like spins and dips. That’s something I’ve never done that I really like. Today I’m going to do salsa dancing which should be pretty fun, too. What do you think of the food? The food is actually pretty good for dining hall food. I find I can dine there definitely more often than not and keep my taste bud sanity. Going through sports medicine, I'm trying to be nutrition conscious, which is not too easy with dining hall food. But it’s possible here, because Yale is pretty good about their dining hall food. I know -- because my brother works here -- that they are using more natural and local foods. What is your favorite thing about living in the suites at Yale? There’s just a whole different feel to it. Last night, for example, after 11:00 check-in I was just hanging out and talking with this really good friend of mine that is in my living group. That’s something you wouldn’t be able to do as day student and it’s a different feel. You actually feel like you are in college for three weeks. It's more of a stepping stone that I think will make college a lot easier as well. What is your favorite thing about your living group? Well, I like all the guys. I can hang out with different ones depending on what I want to do or what kind of mood I’m in. It’s still very diverse, yet there are people who have common interests with me. Like my friend right here plays volleyball, and another friend of mine in my living group is Egyptian and he likes to play volleyball too. What advice would you give someone coming to Explo for the first time? Make sure you don’t focus too much on any one thing. Try to diversify as much as you can. more conversations > first session \| second session